The Boy and the Battleship

by Christopher Cummings

  Something was clamped over his mouth and face. His reeling mind prepared for the terrible intake of water which would flood into his lungs to drown him. They say drowning is peaceful—but I don’t believe them. It hurts! he thought. But instead he gasped air and felt something gripping him firmly around the neck and pinching his nose tight. The bright light moved, revealing a face mask with two bright eyes behind it.

  A diver!

  Graham’s mind tried to grope with this. Am I already dead? Is this hell, or what? his shocked mind thought. No, it was a man. He was gripping Grahm and holding a mouthpiece in his mouth while reaching down past him. Another bright light appeared: another diver, and he was blowing bubbles. Graham realized that the thing in his mouth was the regulator from a SCUBA set. He gasped more compressed air and began to black out. Bile rose in his throat.

  Don’t vomit! Don’t vomit! Don’t black out! he told himself.

  The diver hauled at him and Graham knew he was free, being hauled upwards. This was as painful as the descent as they went up fast. He tried to focus his eyes but the salt water was making his vision blurred. Two figures, both in black wetsuits, but the man gripping his face and arm had no regulator in his mouth. Even as Graham’s mind registered this he saw the second diver take his regulator out and open his mouth to breathe out. Graham knew enough from his reading to understand that the man was releasing pressure to avoid the bends.

  Graham felt his heart fluttering. I might live! Please God, I want to live! He took another breath, half fearing it would be a cruel trick and that water, not air, would swamp his lungs. As it was he began to cough. Bubbles swirled around him and his senses reeled. But the divers had him firmly in their grip and were swimming strongly upwards.

  Suddenly his head broke surface. The two divers held him up but a wave slapped into his eyes and washed over him. Then his head was above water again, made evident by the chill wind blowing on him. He bumped against the side of a boat and hands grabbed him. The regulator was pulled out of his mouth and before he knew what was happening strong hands had lifted him up and dumped him on the deck of a launch.

  He just had time to register people and lights and that the deck was made of non-skid green plastic before he spewed. Warm vomit and seawater flushed down onto his cold skin. Hands held him on his front as he heaved again. Then he began to shiver and retch alternately. A blanket was wrapped around him and hands touched him. He dimly knew that the ropes around his wrists and feet had been removed, but whether cut or undone he could not tell.

  Another person was vomiting beside him. Graham glanced out of his aching eyes and saw it was one of the divers, a big, bearded man. Graham’s head throbbed and his ears felt as though hot needles had been pushed into them. From the vibration he dimly understood that the launch was under way. A policeman bent down to help wipe slime from his face. In the light of a torch, Graham saw Cartwright’s face.

  Then he blacked out.

  ***

  For the next period of time, he slid in and out of consciousness. Bright lights, the launch berthing, being carried quickly down a gangway on a stretcher, the back of an ambulance-siren wailing.

  Graham came to in a hospital bed. His head throbbed and his ears ached terribly, but he knew at once he was alive. As his eyes shifted focus from the overhead light they looked at his mother’s anxious face. She cried out and reached forward to embrace him. Nurses and doctors came running and he was checked all over.

  “I’m alive mum!” he said in wonder.

  “Yes,” she sobbed, tears of joy running down her cheeks.

  “Is Cindy all right?”

  His mother frowned then nodded. “Yes, the little minx! She was down the wharf with those demonstrators. Never mind her. Margaret is here too,” she replied.

  Graham could only smile. He could hardly hear her. Once the doctors were through with their checks Margaret and Kylie came in. Margaret’s smile quickly crumpled and she sobbed and rushed over to hug him. Graham could only murmur in reply, unsure what she had said. Kylie hugged him too and Margaret then sat beside him, holding his hand. Graham found it very comforting. Somehow it just felt right. Alex came in next and sat to one side.

  Later Mr Cartwright and Mr Baxter came in and Graham learned that the police had been watching Mellish’s trawler from the moment Graham had informed them of his involvement.

  “We saw you go on board and get grabbed,” Cartwright admitted. “And we followed every move, even at night with Night Vision equipment.”

  Graham’s mother was appalled and became very angry. “You could have moved sooner to rescue him. He was nearly drowned!” she said.

  Cartwright had the grace to blush. “Er… yes. We were about to move in when the trawler suddenly got under way. Then we could only follow.”

  “The divers…” Graham began.

  “From the Naval Clearance Diving Team. They have recovered the Stonefish,” Baxter replied. “Their leader, Warrant Officer Crabb, the man who rescued you, is in the next bed.”

  At that Graham insisted that the curtain be pulled back so he could thank his rescuer. WO Crabb was embarrassed and off-hand.

  “I didn’t think we would be in time,” he said. “When I saw you go over the side tied to that mine I thought you were a goner.”

  “So did I!” Graham replied.

  They laughed and WO Crabb went on to describe how he had grabbed his air tank and a toolkit and torch and jumped in. The toolkit was just a weight to take him down quickly. “It was damned lucky I was close enough to see your bubbles and follow you down, otherwise I would never have found you in time,” he said.

  Graham now learned that WO Crabb had given him his spare regulator and cut him free with his diver’s knife. The arrival of his mate with another torch had saved him as they had been able get him free quickly. Because WO Crabb and his mate had dived so fast, and surfaced too quickly, they had both suffered some damage to their ears and a mild attack of the bends.

  “Will you be all right?” Graham asked.

  “Yes. The doctor says I will be diving again in a month,” WO Crabb replied. Then he grinned and said, “You had better stop falling in the harbour. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be there next time!”

  They laughed again and Graham blushed. He thought WO Crabb was the bravest man he had ever met. I will try to be just like him when I grow up, he vowed.

  Cartwright then spoke: “So you see, we did take notice of you young Kirk.”

  “Did you get all the crooks?” Graham asked. He was damned if he would call the man ‘sir’. He could have rescued me and saved me all that trauma, he thought. He felt distinctly used and aggrieved.

  Cartwright shook his head. “No. We have arrested O’Malley and his girlfriend, and also Rico. We got him as he tried to board a plane. He is an international terrorist wanted in four countries, so we are particularly pleased to have him in the bag. We also have Dr Metcalf in custody, but we missed Steinwehr,” Cartwright replied.

  “He is waiting in his launch at Upolo Cay,” Graham replied. “Mellish and his crew were to lay the mine, then sail out to meet him. The trawler was then to be sunk in deep water.”

  “How do you know that?” Cartwright asked.

  “I overheard them talking while I was tied up—being tortured,” Graham replied angrily.

  Cartwright made a muttered ejaculation and stood up. As he walked to the door he pulled out a mobile phone and quickly called. Graham could not follow the conversation as his ears kept going deaf or fuzzy but he gathered the navy were being told.

  A few minutes later, Cartwright returned. “A helicopter and patrol boat are on their way,” he explained. “Our good friend Mr Steinwehr shouldn’t get far.”

  “Who is this Mr Steinwehr?” Graham asked.

  “This is classified, so don’t mention it,” Cartwright said. “He was a commander in the US Navy, an expert on mine warfare. He lost his commission after being caught in, well, let’s say ‘compromising’ activities with
a several sailors. This was before the US Navy changed its policy on homosexuals, and they wouldn’t take him back. He’s got a bit of a grudge over it and has been causing the navy a lot of grief ever since.”

  There was a stir in the corridor; and then white uniforms. More visitors came in. Graham noted the gold rank epaulets and officer’s caps wreathed in gold braid and goggled. It was an American Admiral and the captains of both warships, plus their aides. Graham was introduced and had his hand shaken. He was a bit overwhelmed by it all: a real admiral! With row after row of medal ribbons and all that gold braid on his cap and shoulders.

  The admiral shook his hand. “You did a great job son. You saved a lot of lives, not to mention one of our ships. We really appreciate what you did and I’d like to apologize for you being badly treated before.”

  “Sir?” Graham asked weakly, unsure what he was talking about.

  Lt Cdr Hazard stepped forward. “For when you weren’t allowed on the ship visit on Saturday, Graham,” he explained.

  Graham blushed. “Oh! Oh that’s all right sir. It must have looked pretty fishy at the time,” he replied.

  The admiral nodded. “It did. But you have done a mighty job. When you brought in the information with Steinwehr’s name, our security boys suddenly went ape; and when you told Mr Cartwright here about the Stonefish, we knew we had big trouble on our hands,” he explained.

  An American captain nodded and added, “A Stonefish went missing in transit from the factory in England last year and we’ve been in a sweat ever since worrying about when and where it would turn up. You found it for us. Well done!”

  The admiral patted Graham’s shoulder. “Yes son, we owe you,” he said. “Is there anything you would like? We would like to repay you. Uncle Sam knows how to reward his friends.”

  An idea flitted into Graham’s mind. He started, then stopped. “Well sir, I’d… I’d really like to see…” Again Graham dried up, thinking he was being silly and unreasonable.

  “Like to see what?” the Admiral urged gently, a twinkle in his eye. “Would you like to visit America?”

  Graham nodded. “Yes sir. I’d like to see a real battleship.”

  The admiral grinned. “A battleship! What a great idea. Why I was a gunnery officer on the Mighty Mo for two years. Consider it done son, if that’s all right Mrs Kirk?”

  It was. Graham could not believe his luck. In its own way it was as unbelievable as being thrown into the harbour to drown. The American captains both then invited Graham to visit their ships the next day. “As our honoured guest.”

  Thus it was that five weeks later Graham stood on the deck of the mighty Iowa-class battleship USS Wisconsin at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in Virginia. He stared up at the massive 16” guns in their colossal turrets, then up over the steel mountain of upper works. It was a little disappointing to him that the battleship was no longer in service, but she was still massive and a most impressive ship. He turned to grin at Kylie and Alex. It was a dream come true!

  And she was the second battleship he had visited. The Americans had flown the whole family across for two weeks during the September holidays and they had already visited the USS Massachusetts, also now a museum ship, at Fall River in her home state; and next they were to go to Wilmington, North Carolina, to see the USS North Carolina, then on to see the USS Texas at Houston. Their return journey would include a visit to Pear Harbour Naval Base in Hawaii to see the USS Missouri and the wreck of the USS Arizona; all of it as guests of the US Navy. Graham’s greatest wish had come true.

  For a few moments Graham relived the events that had led to this. There was a moment’s wistful regret over Thelma. Then he breathed in deeply and looked up once more at the towering grey steel superstructure and tried to imagine what it must have been like to be aboard when she was at sea and heading in harm’s way.

  As for Cindy? Well, he did see Cindy again. When he got the chance he begged her for forgiveness. “I’m sorry Cindy,” he sobbed.

  “For what?” she asked quizzically.

  “For persuading you to… to do things,” he said.

  Cindy snorted and curled her lip. “Huh! I’m not that weak! It is me who should be saying sorry to you. I was just using you to learn on. And it was nice, but I am sorry I used you that way.”

  “But why?” Graham cried.

  Cindy shrugged. “Just stupid peer pressure I guess. A couple of my friends did it and said it was good and I wanted to be part of the ‘in’ crowd,” she explained.

  Graham was flabbergasted and did not know whether to be hurt or angry. “I thought you liked me,” he muttered.

  “I did. I do! If I hadn’t I wouldn’t have let you do anything. You are a really nice boy, and a brave one. That’s another reason why I was going to let you. You had the guts to ask. Every other boy was thinking what they’d like to do with me but you were brave enough to say so. So don’t feel bad about it.”

  “Please don’t do it anymore, Cindy,” Graham begged.

  Cindy smiled. “I intend to do it a lot more. It can be fantastic fun, but I have learned my lesson. I will wait until I am old enough and until I meet the right man. So thank you Graham.”

  With that she leaned forward and kissed him, then walked away.

  Enjoy more C.R. Cummings stories

  The Cadet Under~Officer

  by C.R. Cummings

  The Army Cadet series

  DoctorZed Publishing

  www.doctorzed.com

  ISBN: 978-0-9875975-5-7

  2nd edition 2013

  Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth has been handed a briefcase full of incriminating documents by her dying uncle, documents wanted by a gang of crooks. In desperation she flees into the bush, where she encounters seventeen-year-old Cadet Under-Officer Graham Kirk and his platoon of army cadets. Graham decides to hide Elizabeth until he can contact the authorities.

  But how? And who can he trust? As the days go by the crooks become ever more desperate.

  Now available in print and ebook.